Kasper "Stranger" Malone

My Best to You ...: Eighty Years As a Sideman Kasper "Stranger" Malone

Sidemen-professional musicians hired to perform with groups of which they are not regular members-are essential to bands and orchestras, but most remain anonymous for their entire lives. A few music aficionados might know their names, and sometimes a sideman becomes a star for compositions or for exceptional performances. Even so, few ever achieve fame or an identity separate from the organizations with whom they perform. My Best to You ... captures a glimpse of Kasper "Stranger" Malone, a musician struggling to survive in the early days of recorded music. In his own words, Malone documents, names, places, and personalities of that era. He played in every musical genre, from early recorded country music with Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers to silent movie orchestras, from live radio to jazz recordings with Benny Goodman, Pee Wee Hunt, and Jack Teagarden. He played with symphony orchestras in San Francisco, Denver, Tucson, and Rome, Georgia, finally ending his long career full circle playing folk and bluegrass in North Georgia. With a Founder's Award from the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, a Guinness World Records acknowledgement of his unprecedented seventy-seven year recording history, and a recently released documentary of his life, in his old age he found he had achieved an uncomfortable fame. Presented here is his history and biography, edited by his daughter, Patricia Poos and filled with fascinating details of a long and historic career.